chẳng ăn cũng thiệt, chẳng chơi cũng hoài
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Neither working nor playing is a waste of time
Literally: not eat also lose, not play also regret
Examples
Tôi đi du lịch chẳng ăn cũng thiệt, chẳng chơi cũng hoài nên quyết định tận hưởng hếtI went on a trip and thought that neither eating nor playing would be a waste, so I decided to enjoy it all
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Discovered via Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918; public domain, via vi.wikisource); retrieved 2026-08-01. Source: source ↗ Attested in Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “chẳng ăn cũng thiệt, chẳng chơi cũng hoài” mean?
Neither working nor playing is a waste of time Literally: not eat also lose, not play also regret
Is “chẳng ăn cũng thiệt, chẳng chơi cũng hoài” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.